A typical motor vehicle steering column includes a tubular mast jacket, a steering shaft supported on the mast jacket for rotation about a longitudinal centerline of the steering column, and a steering hand wheel attached to the steering shaft at the top of the steering column. The mast jacket may be pivotable up and down on a body of the motor vehicle to adjust the vertical position of the steering hand wheel and/or the length of the mast jacket may be variable to adjust the horizontal position of the steering hand wheel. Such adjustable steering columns typically include a clamp by which a stationary bracket and the mast jacket are squeezed together to capture by friction the position of the mast jacket. To enhance the friction couple between the mast jacket and the stationary bracket, it is known to form teeth on the stationary bracket and on the mast jacket which mesh when the clamp closes and which unmesh when the clamp opens. A motor vehicle steering column according to this invention is a novel alternative to the aforesaid adjustable steering columns having friction clamps and enhanced friction clamps.